Sharp develops 'two-way view' LCD

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At last, a way to end squabbles over which TV channel to
watch - without buying a second set. Sharp Corporation. has
developed a liquid-crystal display that shows totally different
images to people viewing the screen from the left and the
right.

One person can be surfing the internet, using the display as a
PC screen, while another watches a downloaded movie or TV
broadcast. It also works for watching two TV channels: One person
can watch baseball while another watches a soap opera.

The "two-way viewing-angle LCD," announced by the Japanese
consumer electronics maker on Thursday, will go into mass
production this month and will cost roughly twice as much as a
standard display.

Sharp would offer the product for worldwide sale, but the
Osaka-based company would also supply other manufacturers with the
displays for various products expected later this year, said
spokeswoman Miyuki Nakayama.

Sharp says the technology offers many possibilities.

It could be used in cars so drivers can look at a map while the
passenger watches a movie. Or at a store, sales clerks and clients
can view different data on the same display simultaneously.

Another possible use is for billboards that display two kinds of
advertisements depending on where viewers stand. The display will
also work in the regular way and show a single image to all
viewers.

One catch is that the images overlap if viewers stand right in
front of the screen. Moving a few inches to the left or right may
be necessary for a clear view.

Another drawback is that users will have to work out a way to
listen to the sounds coming from the different channels. One
solution is for one viewer to use earphones.

The technology appears to derive from Sharp's three-dimensional
LCD displays, which work by projecting slightly different images to
the right and left eyes without the use of special glasses. Sharp
has been selling 3D laptops for a few years, aiming them mainly at
engineers, architects and other professionals.

A US startup, Deep Light, plans to launch its own monitors next
year that can present several different images to different viewers
in 3D without glasses.